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| January 28, 2003 | Tuesday | Ziqa’ad 24, 1423 |
Veteran Shahbaz propels Police crush Islamabad
Police 7 Islamabad 1
HBL 3 Rawalpindi 1
Karachi ‘A’ 5 Peshawar 3
Customs 6 Gujranwala 2
Army 9 Sargodha 0
KARACHI, Jan 27: A scintillating hat trick from Mohammad Shahbaz guided Police to an overwhelming 7-1 victory over Islamabad in the 50th national hockey championship at UBL Sports Complex Monday.
Shahbaz’s hat trick was, however, overshadowed by the most thrilling encounter of the day between Karachi ‘A’ and Peshawar which ended on a hard fought 5-3 win for the home side.
In other games of the day, star-studded Habib Bank (HBL) failed to impress, although they overcame a plucky Rawalpindi 3-1, Customs handed Gujranwala a 6-2 rout, while Pakistan Army crushed Sargodha 9-0.
Although the Policemen took over complete control on the game but not before the first goal came from Islamabad through Mohammad Arshad in the third minute which proved merely a consolation for the federal capital.
Police responded quickly as they opened up the barrage of goals the very next minute equalising through Ejaz Imran. Shahbaz struck his first a minute before halftime to make it 2-1, but the real punishment for Islamabad started after the breather as Policemen went on rampage scoring five more.
Shahbaz, a former Pakistan striker, was the main destroyer as he tore the Islamabad defence to fire a three-goal salvo within the space of nine minutes to complete his hat trick. Shahbaz first found the cage in the 40th minute and then pumped in two in the 45th and 49th minutes.
Mohammad Azam damaged Islamabad further by slamming home in the 56th minute, while Nadeem Akhtar completed the scoring five minutes from time.
Shahid Waseem of Police was named player of the match.
Peshawar made Karachi ‘A’ work hard before capitulating but the way they recovered from two goals down in the first half was commendable.
Karachi ‘A’ got off to a flying start with a fourth-minute Wasif Raza goal, and then slotted home the second when Adnan Najam converted a penalty corner five minutes later.
Working like a well-oiled machine, Peshawar moved in an organized manner through the Karachi ‘A’ defence and were duly rewarded with a penalty stroke in the 16th minute which was converted by Zia-ur-Rahman.
Peshawar put the game on an even keel six minutes later with a wonderfully worked goal when Abdul Samad dodged his way past two defenders in the circle before firing home through the Karachi ‘A’ goalkeeper Nasir Ahmad’s pads.
Imran Khan of Karachi ‘A’, who was continuously working hard down the right, cleverly set up Nisar Ahmad who scored the third in the 43rd minute to put his side ahead.
Peshawar, playing neat, attacking hockey, came near scoring twice, were denied by Nasir. But Karachi `A’ went further ahead when Nisar, the player of the match, dribbled through Peshawar circle to score what was a spectacular goal in the 58th minute.
Karachi ‘A’ again buckled when Peshawar retaliated by mounting pressure and reduced the margin 4-3 when Samad got his double barely 60 seconds later. The local side went to a safe distance from trouble when Mansoor Sheikh was fed accurately by fleet- footed Abbas Haider in the 62nd minute.
HBL, having some half a dozen internationals, including Pakistan striker Kashif Jawwad, missing their inspirational penalty corner striker Sohail Abbas who switched over to Wapda last year, seemed to have lost the bite.
Although the result was in bankers’ favour, they were not as threatening as they should have been. They converted only two goals through penalty corners despite getting no less than 12.
HBL penetrated the Rawalpindi defence number of times which was also evident from the number of short corners they got, but the forward-line lacked the firepower they needed to give their moves a finishing touch.
The bankers went ahead with a short corner conversion through Asad Qureshi in the fourth minute. But Rawalpindi shocked HBL when they equalised in the 24th minute via Asif Butt.
Ejaz Rasool broke the deadlock with a 28th-minute penalty corner conversion. Rawalpindi were reduced to ten players when Sumair Malik was shown a yellow card in the 53rd minute.
The bankers sealed the fate of the match when newly-appointed captain Haider Hussain gave Kashif a measured pass who netted from the top of the circle just a minute before fulltime.
Rawalpindi goalkeeper Saleem Ahmad was adjudged player of the match.
Gujranwala opened their account with a 21st-minute Hafiz Zubair goal which was equalised by Mudassir Abbas in the 45th minute. Player of the match, Customs’ Mohammad Moazzam (49th, 53rd minute) added two more, while Mohammad Ali (56th minute), and Shabbir Ahmad (61st minute) made it 5-1.
Khurram Shahzad scored the second for Gujranwala in the 66th minute before Mohammad Ali completed the tally in the 69th minute.
Army went 4-0 up against Sargodha when Dilawar Hussain (1st minute), Mohammad Irfan (11th, 18th minute), and Mohammad Yousuf (20th minute) found the net. Tabarak Hussain (47th, 57th minute), Yousuf (59th minute), player of the match Mohammad Imran (61st minute), Tabarak (69th minute), completed the rout.
Tuesday’s fixtures:
Wapda v Multan at 10.00am; PTCL v Peshawar at 12.00pm; Gujranwala v NBP at 2.00pm; Faisalabad v ABL at 4.00pm.
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